The Ethereum Foundation recently announced the establishment of a new specialized team called dAI, aimed at advancing artificial intelligence and machine economy to become reliant on the Ethereum network as a primary layer for settlement and coordination, in addition to building a solid foundation for a decentralized artificial intelligence economy.
The team will focus on two main axes:
1. Empowering intelligent agents and robots to make payments, coordinate, and govern without the need for intermediaries.
2. Developing open, transparent, and anti-censorship alternatives that prevent the monopolization of the future of artificial intelligence by limited central entities.
Technically, the dAI team is working on accelerating the adoption of the ERC-8004 standard, which lays out a framework for verifying the identities of smart agents and integrates technologies like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) to facilitate secure on-chain interactions and address identity trust issues. They also plan to collaborate with the Ethereum protocol to support the development of dedicated wallets for agents, in addition to services like oracles and other necessary infrastructure.
As for the ecosystem, the team aims to build partnerships with technology companies in Silicon Valley and encryption developers to transform Ethereum into the main settlement layer for the artificial intelligence economy. Through smart contracts, agents can complete payments and settlements automatically, reducing costs and reshaping the global value transfer network.
The team has also opened the door to hiring AI researchers and project managers, adopting a philosophy of "decentralized acceleration" to fund projects like federated learning frameworks, in an attempt to break the dominance of major companies over AI resources.
The market has shown optimism about this move, as investment tools linked to Ethereum recorded net inflows of $11 billion between September 9 and 15, ending a six-day consecutive outflow wave. It is expected that if the ERC-8004 standard is adopted, Ethereum will be able to solidify its position as a key player in the field of smart agent payments.
However, the road is not without challenges, the most prominent being the immaturity of decentralized AI technologies, the difficulty of standardization, and regulatory ambiguity. Therefore, the team is expected to adopt an "incremental innovation" approach by launching pilot experiments in areas like DeFi before expanding to broader domains.
Attention is also turning towards the ETHShanghai 2025 conference scheduled to take place from October 18 to 22, where leading developers and teams will gather, which may present an ideal opportunity for the dAI team to showcase their progress and build new strategic partnerships.
